Method
How VGSources ranks
A tool list puts first what a player can get running, cheaply, on the machine they have. Everything is read from what each maker publishes on its own pages; no tool is "tested" by us.
The score
- Every tool starts at4.0
- How fully its maker documents it (the most at twenty published facts)up to 1.6
- Its plans and prices are published0.6
- It has a free plan0.9
- A free trial, when it has no free plan0.4
- It runs on Windows, a PC player's machine0.5
- It runs on Linux, where most dedicated servers run0.3
- It is open source0.3
- Its pages were read in the last 60 days0.3
- The research's own order of the list, as a tie-breakerup to 0.8
A tool can stand on several lists; on each, it is ranked against the others on that list by the same rule.
Ties
Two tools with the same score keep the research's order of the list, then the one with more published facts comes first, then the name.
The game lists
The lists of games (a studio's games, new PC games, games by genre) are not scored: they run newest first, by release date, then by name.
Paid places
Some places can be bought. A bought place stands at the number that was bought, and the tools below it move down one. Some tools are also shown beside another tool's page as one to use instead, because that place was bought. The facts on a page — prices, plans, where a tool runs — are never for sale. See the disclosure.
When the lists change
Every list is ranked again each morning from the latest research. A maker can claim its tool's page to correct a fact.